Page 83 of Black Onyx
“Grab your bags now!” Storm orders.
We all rush to grab our go bags, and I’m grateful that we’re already in our fighting gear, thanks to our middle of the night excursion. At least that’s going to cut down on the time it takes to grab everything. I pull my bag on and grab a couple more weapons just in case. Just as I turn back to the door to meet the others, I feel a sucking sensation take over my whole body and find a portal, the edges glowing green, just behind me. It pulls me towards it, and I go willingly, not bothering to fight it since, from what we were told, we will all get pulled into the same place anyway. As I move over the threshold, there’s a flash of green that completely takes over my vision, and I can feel that the ground beneath my feet has some give in it, which makes me think I must be standing on grass.
I keep my other senses alert as I wait for the green to fade from my eyes so that I can see again. Hearing a thump next to me, I tense, preparing to fight without my sight, but thankfully the green quickly starts to recede from the edges of my vision, and I can just make out a crouching Loki. I instantly relax but stay ready just in case something decides to attack while we’re vulnerable from the portal. We’re going to have to be careful about that. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of the levels were based on something like that. After all the Fae Realm is testing our skills, I wonder how well the others can fight with one of their senses taken. Something to think about when we get back.
We seem to be on the edge of a forest with a dirt track set out in front of us, and nothing looks particularly unusual, so I assume that we’re still in the Fae Realm. After I’ve checked the surrounding area is safe, I turn back to Loki.
“You okay?” I ask, walking over to him.
“Yeah, fuck, that first step is a doozy.” He replies, his eyes scanning the area like mine just did. “Where are the others?”
I open my mouth to say how the hell should I know when five green-edged portals appear. “There, I guess.”
“Wait five?” Loki asks, “surely there should only be four?”
Out of the portals lands, Killian, Storm, Rival, Reaper and Zev!
“What the fuck?” I ask.
“What’s wrong?” Storm demands clearly still blinded by the green.
“Don’t worry; the green will fade in a few seconds,” Loki tells the others, and within seconds they all start looking around.
When their eyes land on Zev, they all just stare at him.
He rubs his hand against the back of his neck like he’s nervous, and to be fair, I would be too, with all of us staring at him.
“Erm, hi guys,” he says, giving us a little wave.
“Don’t take this the wrong way because I’m happy to see you, but how?” I ask.
“I’m not entirely sure as far as I’m aware because I don’t have a team and won’t have one because I’m the next Head Seer I was going to be pulled in by myself, so I have no idea how I’ve been pulled in with you guys, but I’m incredibly grateful because at least I have a pretty decent chance of survival now.”
The guys look at me.
“Well, the voice you heard did say that he’d be safe,” Rival points out.
As I go to reply, tinkling laughter fills sounds all around us, and I freeze.
“Please, for the love of just about everything tell me that you guys heard that?” I practically beg.
“Yep, I heard it.” Zev replies, looking to the others, who all nod, “what voice?”
“After I realised that you were the next Head Seer, I asked the fates to make sure that you’d stay safe in the games, and the voice of a woman replied saying you would be, but only I heard it,” I explain quickly.
Zev’s eyes widen, “In that case, I guess that thanks are in order.”
I nod and then look around again, “So how do we know what we’re supposed to do?”
With a zap of purple light, a scroll appears and hovers in the air, waiting to be read, almost like the Fae Realm was listening to our conversation and waiting until we had gotten over the surprise of Zev being here before it gave us the information we needed to do the mission.
“I guess that’s how,” Loki grins, looking over at Storm, “you’re the boss. You get the honours.”
“Alright,” Storm says, plucking it out of the air and unravelling it.
Scrolls aren’t really used much anymore, people sticking to heavy paper and envelopes instead, so I can appreciate the Fae Realm’s flair for the dramatics.
Storm clears his throat and starts to read, “A hybrid beast from the Void Realm,” his eyes snap up to mine.
